Food in the 5 Stans, Central Asia

I spent 3 weeks travelling through the 5 Stans in Central Asia. The 5 Stans are Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. We had full board and some people called our trip "Eating your way through the 5 Stans"!

We ate all our meals in hotels and restaurants. And every lunch and dinner was almost the same format - a starter of 2 or 3 salad dishes, then soup followed by the main course and usually a dessert. I don't know if the locals eat like this or if it is just for tourists.

Our first meal was dinner in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and it was very meat heavy and we wondered if this was the norm. It wasn't. Main course sharing platter for 4 -

Breakfasts were always buffet style in the hotels. These are parts of the 2 of the most interesting ones, the first was Bishkek, the second in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan -

This wasn't dessert but breakfast, and I indulged in cake, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan - 

In Almaty, Kazakhstan, the breakfast had a local section. I  tried fermented camel's milk (shubat) and also mare's milk (kymyz). I'm not sure which was which, but one was really sour.  I also tried the kurt, dried cheese balls from fermented milk but they were also really sour -

Plov is a dish found across Central Asia. It resembles pilaf, a rice dish with spices, meat and vegetables. As we progressed through the countries the plov became more oily. 

The first photo is plov in Tajikistan, it was oily (known locally as palav or osh, and famously called the "King of meals" it is the national dish of Tajikistan). The second photo was another oily plov in a national home in Samarkand, Uzbekistan,

Very often the table was already laden with a huge variety of foods when we arrived. These were normally the starters and the desserts -

in a "private" home near Kajy-Say, Kyrgyzstan

The above photo is a dinner in a family house to Karakol, Kyrgyzstan and shows the salads and bread. We then had lo mein noodle soup followed by a hot meat pastry. Then a cake with layers of crunchy sugar. 

The next 3 photos are part of dinner in a Dungan Chinese Muslim family house. The Dungan people of Kyrgyzstan are a unique ethnic group of Chinese Muslims (Hui) who migrated to Central Asia in the late 1870s. Dinner was good, salads, cold noodles, dumplings, soup with egg, rice, meatballs and jelly ear / wood ear fungus, then pumpkin dumplings, followed by cake.

another dinner in a "home"

The most memorable items were aubergines. They appeared  in some shape or form in almost every meal. Often they were  fried, sometimes they were in a kind of batter, or they were sliced pieces. Beetroot was another common ingredient in salads. Some of the salads were really tasty with nice dressings and a mix of ingredients. Others were more basic, just tomato and cucumber. Some salads -

salads in top photo, then main of lamb with peppers and onions Tajik style

Khiva, Uzbekistan

All meals were accompanied by bread. This was varied, some was hard, some was like nan or pizza pieces. In Kyrgyzstan we had a lot of boorsok, a fried bread. The pieces resembled an unsweetened doughnut. We watched it being made -

The soups were varied, we had pumpkin, potato and cheese, borscht, spicy tomato, "minestrone", noodles with chicken or beef, beef with vegetables.

The main were varied. Sometimes they were meat heavy, other times not so much. We had beef, chicken and sometimes lamb. Most mains were served with cold rice which was often hard and crunchy. Sadly most were a struggle after already eating salad and soup and bread! 

sliced beef and spaghetti, Almaty, Kazakhstan

huge chicken kiev and cold mashed potato in Tajikstan

minced beef pancake and rice, Panjakent, Tajikistan

Samarkand, Uzbekistan main course of dumplings

the tea came before the main, which was meatballs

After having the above main, as it was someone's birthday at the end of the meal a cake arrived and was cut up, it was nice but still frozen. Then shots of vodka arrived along with a plate of liver. I goggled the meaning of this  -

the liver

pottery pieces in bazaar at Samarkand, Uzbekistan

kebabs with a thin omelette Khiva, Uzbekistan

Daşoguz  Turkmenistan

starter and fruit with the above meal in Daşoguz  Turkmenistan

We had fish three times.

grilled trout

This fish in Bukara, Uzbekistan is pike-perch , followed by carrot cake -

In Khiva in Uzbekistan we had the green dill noodles, shivit osh, which were a nice change to rice.

A more minimal lunch, tomato and cucumber, soup of potato, carrot and meat, then meat with potato and carrot -

On the drive from Bukhara to Khiv, Uzbekistan across the Kyzylkum Desert, we stopped at a service area and had lunch in a yurt. To our surprise the main was a plate of beef and chips. It was really enjoyable.

Another meal in a yurt, at the the south end of Issyk-Kul lake, Kyrgyzstan -

At Charyn Canyon in Kazakhstan we had Uighur food. A meat pasty then rice, beef and veg and a tomato and cucumber salad -

  Picnic lunch on the road to Panjakent, Tajikistan -

A tea house in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, where the food was cooked for us at our table

Meat platter to share for lunch Ashgabat -

Desserts were generally cake or fresh fruit. I didn't take many photos, but this one was worthy of a photo, a sharing plate of cake -

 Most meals were served with black or green tea. Sometimes it came at the start of the meal, other times towards or at the end. There was no milk. The tea was usually drunk out of bowls.

For breakfast in the hotels hot milk is usually served with coffee, or powdered milk. In hotel rooms there was a kettle with tea bags. Only once or twice there was 3 in 1 coffee sachets, but never any milk. I Googled why cold milk isn't easily available and this is what I read :

"In Uzbekistan, there is a strong, widespread cultural consensus that consuming cold drinks or food causes illness, particularly sore throats, respiratory issues, and digestive problems. In a climate where summer temperatures regularly soar past 40°C (104°F), locals prefer to drink hot green tea or beverages served at room temperature to help the body acclimate to the heat. Serving ice-cold milk runs directly counter to traditional Uzbek views on health and wellness.

Historically, Central Asian nomadic and farming traditions had to find ways to preserve milk in blistering heat without modern refrigeration. Instead of drinking plain milk, the culture evolved to favor fermented and dried dairy products that have natural preservatives built into them. Milk is traditionally boiled immediately or left to sour into versatile staples"

Indeed our guide in Uzbekistan often told us not to drink cold water as we would get a cold or the flu!

I don't know why coffee sachets weren't available in hotel rooms. There are plenty of coffee shops around the 5 countries, in fact Almaty in Kazakhstan has one road without about 20 of them. Some of the coffee shops are very modern - you order and pay at a kiosk, remember your number then collect your drink from a numbered section on a table. Some coffee stalls at Samarkand station -

Coffee shop in Ala Archa National Park, near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - 

*

See my next blog, on food markets in the 5 Stans.

Murals in St Stephens Church, Nessebar, Bulgaria

 Many of the churches in the old city of Nessebar, Bulgaria, have an entry fee, as they are classed as museums, and all come under the UNESCO World Heritage site. I visited the old city a couple of times, see my blog, before deciding which church to visit.

I chose St Stephens as it seemed to be the best for murals. Entry is €4.60, although you can get cheaper tickets by buying combos for 2 or more sites. 

The entrance foyer -

The church itself is rather small. 

There are murals everywhere. Many are linked to the Virgin's life.